


Addendum

by BurningFairytales



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Could be interpreted as friendship, M/M, life in paradise, post-WICKED
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-04
Updated: 2014-06-04
Packaged: 2018-02-03 09:30:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1739711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurningFairytales/pseuds/BurningFairytales
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every year on the anniversary of the last day he saw Newt, Minho asks Thomas to go for a run.<br/>Every year, Thomas says no.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Addendum

A few years after escaping from WICKED, they’ve all more or less come to terms with their new lives. Everyone’s mostly healed. It’s taken all of them time, and they all still wake up from nightmares every once in a while, but they’re okay now.

Their lives are simple, but they are good, and that’s what matters.

And Thomas… Thomas is alright. He’s not  _perfect_  - perhaps none of them will ever be; they’ve all lost too much of themselves to be whole again - but he’s well enough.

Minho knows this, because he knows Thomas better than anyone, and his best friend’s smile is actually genuine most of these days, and not that awful, fake grin he was sporting in the first months in Paradise.

They spend most of their time together, the two of them. Some days they go running, some days they just sit and eat and talk. Spending time with Thomas is easy, because he’s been exactly where Minho was; he’s felt the same pain as him, and Minho never feels like he has to explain anything. Besides, lately, it almost feels like they’re back in the Glade – the good parts of it – when they could just joke around and run until they were tired and out of breath.

They’re a package deal, the dynamic duo, and everyone in Paradise knows that if you’re messing with one of them, you’re facing both of their wrath.

Except it’s that time of year again.

This time not five years ago, they were still a trio, and the absence of the one that should be here with them hangs heavily in the air - more so than it usually does, and Minho misses Newt so badly that he just needs to get away for a while.

He wishes he could talk to Thomas about it, because Thomas gets it in the way no one else does, and Minho wants him there with him, to just run and remember and hurt together. Because remembering will always hurt, Minho knows that, but Thomas hurts in a way that is so different from his own: this time of the year he always stays in his little hut, not going outside, not talking to anyone. Thomas seems to hide more and more of himself away, almost as if he’s trying to disappear completely.

And shuck if that doesn’t scare Minho, because Thomas is his friend, and he needs him, too.

So, when the morning on the anniversary of the last day they all had together comes around, Minho appears at his door and he says the same words he always does

_(“You. Me. A day off. What do you say?”)_

and Thomas replies the same way he always does

_(“Not today, Min.”)_

and this time he grins a little, and it’s that awful fake grin that Minho thought he wouldn’t ever have to see again, and that just _DOES IT_.

“Why do you always say no?” he says as he pushes past Thomas into his hut.

Thomas seems just the tiniest bit startled by their change in routine, but he doesn’t miss a beat before replying:

“Why do you keep asking?”

Minho spins around, suddenly angry. Not at the fact that Thomas won’t go with him - because shuck that; he’s been coping alone for years and he’s fine, thankyouverymuch - but at the fact that Thomas has had to deal with it alone, too, and Minho could’ve helped. They could’ve been there for each other if his friend hadn’t been such a shucking shuck-face.

“What’s the MATTER with you, Thomas?” he rages. “You’re not alone with this, ya know? I shucking lost Newt, too!”

He’s almost as surprised as Thomas when he says it, because neither of them ever really talk about Newt, and Minho has sure as hell never admitted that Newt would be gone by now.

(Neither has Thomas, but then, Thomas seems to avoid talking about Newt like one would avoid The Flare, and it makes Minho angry, because their friends deserves to be remembered.)

“Don’t you think I know that!” Thomas replies, voice rising. “I know, okay! Why do you think I never go with you?”

“How should I know! Been wondering, but it’s not like you actually talk to me!”

And then they’re yelling, and, well. They’re both idiots, so one thing leads to another - Minho grabs Thomas’ arm and Thomas yanks it back, and then Minho is frustrated enough to punch him. 

(And no one – past, present or future – has  ever accused him of being good at handling frustration.) 

 They end up on the floor at one point, and he notices that there are tears streaming down Thomas’ cheeks; his friend is actually crying, and Minho feels bad about the whole thing because Thomas obviously wasn’t ready to be confronted about this. But he had to go and be all impatient like the slinthead he is, didn’t he? He’s about to say something – to offer another sarcastic remark or an apology – Minho isn’t sure, but then his friend slumps back, almost in defeat.

“It’s my fault, okay? It’s my shucking fault!”

At first Minho doesn’t get it. And then he does. 

The thought it ridiculous.

It doesn’t make any sense at all, except that it does, and Minho just kind of freezes up and gapes at him for a long moment. 

 

Thomas killed Newt.

 Shuck.

 

He expects to feel angry. He expects to feel… anything really, but he doesn’t. There’s nothing but the little click in his head, the sense of relief you get when you’ve been trying to solve a puzzle for a long time, and finally found the missing piece.

Thomas has already gotten up, and he’s looking at Minho like he’s waiting for another blow, one that, it seems, he wouldn’t defend himself against.

He’s looking at Minho like he expects him to be angry, too, and with a jolt Minho realises that Thomas must think he deserves it, and that just won’t do.

He ain’t losing Thomas about this. Not before he gets the whole story first.

So he gets up, crosses his arms and looks at Thomas.

“Explain.”

So Thomas does. He paces and runs a hand through his hair multiple times. More importantly, he talks. About the note Newt gave him, and how he’d failed to read it when it had mattered.   
About the Crank Palace, about Denver, and about what Newt said to him in his final moments.

About the relief in his eyes when Thomas pulled the trigger.

He talks and when he finishes, there’s really nothing else to say to that except “shuck.”

Because Thomas has spent the last years believing that Newt hated him, and wow. Minho thought he’d had it bad, but knowing, for Thomas, must’ve been worse.

He drags his hand across his face, still processing. And then, without having made the conscious decision to, he’s already moved across to where Thomas stands, and pulls him close. 

Thomas freezes at first, as if he’s still expecting Minho to change his mind and punch him in the gut. When he realises that it won’t happen, he relaxes. Gradually at first, and then completely.   
And then he’s clutching Minho and burying his head in the crook of his neck, and he sobs, quietly, like this was something he’s been holding back for too long.

(It is.)

It takes a while for him to calm down, and Minho gets it. 

Thomas needs this. He needs this the same way Minho needed to run away every year.

Thomas, more than anything, had needed someone to show him he’s forgiven.

"So." Minho says, when Thomas is calm again. They’re sitting on Thomas’ bed. The sun has risen by now, and the light coming through the window behind them warms Minho’s neck.

"So." Thomas replies. And then: "So, how’s that day off sound?"

Minho laughs out loud at that. Thomas even joins in; it’s short and his voice breaks a little, but the smile he gives Minho is genuine. 

"Okay, Greenie,” he answers, in remembrance of their first meeting. “You da boss."

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this to my tumblr as a reply to someone else's post, but I changed some things before uploading it to AO3.  
> Original post can be found here:  
> http://burningfairytales.tumblr.com/post/87117673412/oh-my-god-oh-my-gooooood-a-few-years-later


End file.
